


Some Things Just Happen

by fickle_fics



Category: Skins (UK)
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, No Porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fickle_fics/pseuds/fickle_fics
Summary: When everything falls apart Cassie goes back to Sid's only he isn't there, but Mark is and it seems like he might need her.
Relationships: Cassie Ainsworth/Mark Jenkins
Comments: 19
Kudos: 6
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	Some Things Just Happen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the bannedtogetherbingo square - low self esteem,

Cassie was used to feeling unwanted - her parents had always been too wrapped up in themselves and each other to give much of a shit about what she got up to and thanks to Michelle she was used to being second best, the weird girl you put up with cos you couldn’t have Chelle.

Being fixed up with Sid was the worst thing that could have happened to her - the kind of twisted plan only Tony could come up with because who gave a shit about other people as long as Tony got what he wanted? It wasn’t like she hadn’t known Sid was in love with Michelle, everyone knew it and always had, but he’d spent time with her, asked questions and talked to her and in Cassie’s head that was enough, it was more than anyone else had bothered doing.

Apart from Chris. 

Cassie had been in love with Sid, but she’d _loved_ Chris in a whole different way, cos Chris had been there for her like family, taken her in and forgiven her no matter how many times, or how, she’d fucked up. Chris was pretty much the best.

And then he’d died and she’d ran.

Mark wasn’t surprised when Liz left, just like he wasn’t surprised when Sid left either. His whole life he’d known he was a failure, the odd one out - everyone else getting named after his father apart from him as if they just knew he wasn’t going to deserve it. He tried though - got himself a good steady job, tried to be a good husband, a good father to a boy he really didn’t understand - to keep him safe and focused, The thing was he didn’t respect him, no one respected him, he was too clumsy and too boring. 

Maybe he should have tried harder to get Liz back, but it had all felt too inevitable, so why bother? Why not just accept his fate and give up? He’d given it a good eighteen years after all, and Sid, Sid was better off without him, everyone was better off without him.

And then one night, or maybe one morning depending on how you looked at it, Cassie had arrived. He’d heard the way Sid talked about her even when they’d been dating. He’d also seen her picture on the wall of Sid’s room - all spread out in bed and looking like an angel. He knew she was messed up too, which was why turning her away had never occurred to him.

She’d been looking for Sid of course, muttered something about how he was the only left that might care now, with tears in her eyes and it had taken him an hour of her waiting on his sofa to admit Sid had gone, left them both. She’d just stared blankly at nothing for a good twenty minutes after that, then suddenly got up and started cleaning the whole house. When she was done she came back and sat down where she’d been as if nothing had happened. 

“It’s all better now. So... can I stay?” she’d asked, and Mark really hadn’t had the heart to say no.

He hadn’t meant to let this happen, his plan had been to let her say as long as she needed and then...then...well go back to drinking during the day and not washing up most likely. Only she’d never seemed to want to go, and she’d never asked about Sid, instead she’d asked about him and sympathised when he mentioned his wife leaving and how he’d never felt good enough and when he’d somehow burst into tears she’d practically leapt up to wrap her thin arms around him and press her lips against his neck whispering about how he was lovely and kind and none of it was his fault people just left, cos it was what they did.

He hadn’t meant to kiss her, this beautiful sprite of a girl at the age of 18, but she’d been soft and close and warm and _there_. He hadn’t expected her to kiss him back, he’d figured she’d push him away and leave and he could go back to self-pity and hatred. And so what if she was as messed up as he was? Did that mean he had to turn her away when all he’d wanted to do was pull her closer and pretend he wasn’t the failure he was? Was he meant to reject her and make her feel even worse just because of her age? He couldn’t do that, he couldn’t be the reason she had tears in her eyes again.

She hadn’t meant to care so much. Hadn’t meant to want to look after him and his house and keep him safe and with her. She hadn’t meant to crawl into his lap and cling to him like a safety blanket. But when he’d kissed her she hadn’t hesitated, she’d cared about him and if he cared about her too didn’t it just make sense to be with him regardless of anything else?

“Take me to bed?” she’d said, when the kiss broke.

Mark had stared and Cassie had felt her blood run cold with the possibility of rejection.

“I shouldn’t,” he’d told her.

“But you will, right?”

He hadn’t meant to be one of those men, but it wasn’t like this had been his plan, it wasn’t like he’d started it or intended for anything to happen. He’d tried, but what sane man was really going to turn down a girl asking to sleep with him?

Her skin had felt like silk under his hands as she’d laid there like the photo in Sid’s room - an angel below him, smiling and twisting and whispering his name as she clung to him, pressing her soft mouth against his skin.

He hadn’t asked about the scars and she hadn’t recoiled at the sight of his body naked. She hadn’t looked disgusted or regretful as he lay panting beside her. She hadn’t made her excuses and got dressed and left. No, she’d curled up against him, her arm over his chest, tangling her legs with his and kissed his shoulder. 

“Love you, Mark,” she’d said with her eyes closed.

“Love you too, Cass,” he’d replied without even thinking about it.

Maybe it was true. Or maybe they were all the other had.


End file.
